Men’s soccer team win season closer

The Cal Poly Pomona men’s soccer team closed the season this
week losing on Friday to Cal State Dominguez Hills, 5-0, while
defeating Cal State Los Angeles on Sunday, 1-0.

The Broncos finished the season with a winning record of 10-7-1
overall and a CCAA record of 8-7-1, which was good enough for fifth
place in the CCAA South Division. Despite the winning record,
however, the Broncos did not make the postseason.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (13-4-2, 10-4-2) finished
second place in the South Division while the Cal State Los Angeles
Golden Eagles (9-7-1, 8-7-1) finished fourth. The Toros clinched a
CCAA Tournament berth.

Friday’s game in Carson against the Toros was a must-win for the
Broncos to secure a playoff spot.

The Broncos played evenly with the Toros early on, but in the
20th minute, senior midfielder Alex Munoz scored on a free kick
from 25 yards out that put the Toros up 1-0.

Munoz scored again in the 54th minute, giving the Toros a 2-0
lead. The Toros proceeded to score three more times in the second
half and the game ended in a 5-0 victory for the Toros.

With a playoff spot well out of reach, the Broncos headed into
Sunday’s game at Cal State Los Angeles with school pride in
hand.

“We played for pride out there today,” said head coach Lance
Thompson. “We wanted to represent the name on the jersey well.”

The Broncos started strong with shots from junior midfielder
Juan Mejia, senior forward Tyler Reinhart and junior
forward/midfielder Jonathan Enns that forced Golden Eagles’
freshman goalkeeper Thaddeus Caraway into making two of his
game-high six saves.

The only goal came in the 21st minute when Reinhart shot the
ball, which was initially saved, but Mejia was able to put away the
rebound for the score.

The best chance of the half for the Golden Eagles came in the
43rd minute when freshman forward Gonzalo Pulgar received a pass
from junior forward David Hauser with only the goalie to beat, but
Pulgar shot the ball wide of the net.

The Golden Eagles came out in the second half and pressured the
Bronco defense, but the Broncos successfully kept the Golden Eagles
scoreless even after being out shot, 18-13.

Cal Poly Pomona sophomore goalkeeper James Iles came up with
five saves to record the second shutout in his career as a
Bronco.

This win, paired with the 2-0 win over the Golden Eagles on
Sept. 24, is the first time the Broncos have won both games against
Cal State Los Angeles in one season since 1999.